The Night Watch: Intel Slips but IBM Rises After Earnings Reports

Updated from 5:32 p.m. EDT

Shares of Intel(INTC Quote) dropped in extended trading after the chipmaker revealed that revenue for the fourth quarter could fall short of analysts' expectations.

The company's third-quarter earnings met Wall Street's consensus estimate, but the bottom line fell sharply from the same period a year ago. Intel said income, before charges, totaled $655 million, or 10 cents a share, down from $2.89 billion, or 43 cents a share, a year ago. Sales slid to $6.5 billion from $8.7 billion. The company also forecast fourth-quarter sales of $6.2 billion to $6.8 billion, the same range it has projected for the past two quarters. Analysts are looking for the high end of that estimate. Intel slipped 0.2% to $24.92 after the bell.

IBM(IBM Quote) said its earnings totaled $1.6 billion, or 90 cents a share, a penny ahead of the consensus estimate, in the third quarter. The company posted income of $2.0 billion, or $1.08 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Sales dropped to $20.4 billion from $21.78 billion last year, but shares of IBM were up 3.5% to $105.45.

Volume was heavy as traders had plenty of corporate news to digest after the bell. Almost 9.8 million shares changed hands on Instinet, with the top 20 movers accounting for about two-thirds of the volume.

RF Micro Devices(RFMD Quote) was off 5.8% to $23 after the company said it earned $1.5 million, or a penny a share, in the second fiscal quarter. Analysts were expecting the company to break even. The company earned $17.7 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. RF Micro also projected earnings of 1 cent to 2 cents a share in the third quarter, before charges.Wall Street is expecting 2 cents.

i2 Technologies(ITWO Quote) said it lost $55.3 million, or 13 cents a share, before charges, in the third quarter. The loss was in line with the consensus estimate, but was wider than the $30.6 million, or 7 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Shares of i2 were falling 10.4% to $5.10 in the extended session.

Veritas Software(VRTS Quote) surprised Wall Street with earnings of $51 million, or 12 cents a share, a penny ahead of the consensus estimate. In the year-ago period, earnings totaled $70 million, or 16 cents a share. Revenue increased to $340 million from $317 million in the year-earlier period. Veritas gained 3.6% to $30.50.

10 most active stocks on Island ECN (5 p.m. EDT)
Company	Price	Change	Session Volume
Intel (INTC Quote)	24.45	-0.51	843,620
Nasdaq 100 Tracking Stock (QQQ Quote)	34.84	-0.12	734,023
RF Micro Devices (RFMD Quote)	22.91	-1.51	461,135
Veritas Software (VRTS Quote)	30.59	+1.16	427,950
Rambus (RMBS Quote)	11.84	+0.12	223,708
CoreComm (COMM Quote)	0.09	-0.005	215,499
Cisco Systems (CSCO Quote)	16.62	-0.35	192,314
Juniper Networks (JNPR Quote)	22.48	-0.47	171,330
Metromedia Fiber Network (MFNX Quote)	0.76	0.00	142,536
Sun Microsystems (SUNW Quote)	9.52	-0.09	138,520

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